Volume 86, January 2016, Pages 45–52
Highlights
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- The endemic Azores Bullfinch (Pyrrhula murina) is one of the most threatened European passerines.
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- The Priolo Atlas consists in a citizen science-based instantaneous census of the Azores Bullfinch.
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- It allows a detailed snapshot of occupation, density, habitat preferences and distribution range of P. murina.
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- It engaged citizens with science able to be translated into practical conservation outputs.
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- It has already established itself as a critical tool to monitor the population and habitat of P. murina.
Abstract
The endemic Azores Bullfinch or Priolo (Pyrrhula murina)
is one of the most threatened European passerines, historically
restricted to a single population in the Pico da Vara/Ribeira do
Guilherme Special Protection Area (São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal).
Annual census of this species started in 1991. It usually took one
observer 1–2 months to complete the census and even then, it was not
logistically reasonable to include some areas with very steep slope in
the core of the protected area. In order to bypass these constraints, an
alternative and ambitious monitoring scheme that would allow estimating
the whole species throughout its entire range was proposed in 2007. The
new scheme, which complemented and improved previous estimates,
consisted in performing a thorough instantaneous census using a distance
sampling approach, thus allowing a detailed snapshot of effective
occupation, density, habitat preferences and distribution range of the
Azores Bullfinch. The Priolo Atlas turned into a volunteered geographic
information and citizen science-based ornithological initiative which
every 4 years congregates more than 50 well-trained volunteers in the
Azores. With the first two editions (2008 and 2012), this initiative has
already established itself as a critical tool to monitor the population
of this endemic species.
Keywords
- Volunteered geographic information;
- Bird census;
- Population trends;
- Range size;
- Azores Bullfinch
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